Earlier this week, team leaders from different parts of the world collaborated to photograph a special and rare cosmic event, a tidal disruption event. A tidal disruption event, like the one photographed by scientists Seppo Mattila and Miguel Pérez-Torres, occurs after an unlucky star skirts the edge of the event horizon of a black hole. Pieces of the star’s gaseous layers are slowly stripped away, and the material not absorbed into the black hole is spewed out in a stunning jet stream of stardust.

Recent publications from NASA scientists go into greater detail about the Curiosity rover’s latest discovery of methane and carbon, also known as potential building blocks for life. Does that mean Mars is, once again, a candidate for sustaining life?